Running Renegade
by tsume.hack
Summary: He was alone in the junkyard. His sole purpose of existence was to guard the very place he hated. He knew what he was, but he couldn't escape ... until he met her. BlueOC
1. Renegade

A/n: Hey, it's me. I don't really know what to say about this story. It's kind of a different approach to all of the female/Mary Sue OC's out there. I'm not bagging on any of the good female OC's (like the one in SwingBlue's _Moon's Herald_ - read it now, people, it's good stuff), but you don't see any male OC's, so I went ahead and made one. Mwa ha. There will be some BlueOC stuff in upcoming chapters, so consider yourself forewarned! Well . . . yeah. Hope you enjoy it.

I lost count of how many times I tried to escape from that place. No matter how far I ran, or how cunningly I hid, I was always dragged back, snarling and struggling. I didn't know how they could find me time after time, or why they didn't just find themselves a new guard dog for that rotting, decaying place they called a junkyard. They knew that I hated them with all the hatred any one creature was capable of, but it didn't matter. They simply took that hate within me and used it for themselves.

Had Ceede or Hann been kinder, or I had been all dog instead of half wolf, I would have submitted with less resistance, maybe even with a wagging tail. As it was, the wolf side of me didn't take kindly to being shut in the junkyard, and I made sure my displeasure was known every time either of them showed their faces anywhere near me. They would usually curse and kick me, but I knew their rough language was a cover for their fear – I could smell it on them. When I bared my fangs at them, the reek of terror covered any other scent, and in this I took a small amount of satisfaction.

I had been trapped in this dump for several years now (I'd lost count), and I still refused to bend under the iron rule of Ceede, lord of garbage, sovereign of all things junk. To him I was a necessary evil . . . to me, he was Evil itself. I loathed his existence, and he grudgingly accepted mine for the fact that I guarded his beloved junkyard, though against my will. In a way, we were even.

" Hey you!" Ceede's hateful voice snapped me out of my reverie, and I looked up to see him standing on the other side of the barbed-wire fence holding a battered baseball bat. The same bat he carried with him whenever he was inside my junkyard. That's right: _my_ junkyard. I ruled here, and all trespassers were punished without mercy. I had long ago taught Hann the error of walking unarmed through my domain and he just outright refused to set foot in here anymore. Ceede had been a little more stubborn in accepting the fact, and the scar that ran the length of his left arm was testament to this.

Of course, he had on multiple occasions taken the opportunity of my being chained up to beat me senseless, so I guess my claim on the junkyard could still be debated.

Now, I sat on my haunches glaring at Ceede, and he was glaring right back, tapping his bat on his leg as though he'd like nothing better than to come right in and show me how well he could swing it.

Ceede was the older of the two brothers; at least I thought they were brothers, though they looked nothing alike. Ceede was a tall, lanky man with a grim face and a constant scowl on his face. He was rough and violent at the best of times, but he was shrewd and knew how to drive a hard bargain. While I despised his very existence, I did respect the fact that he was smart . . . for a human.

Hann was another story altogether, the complete opposite of his brother: a follower, a lackey. He did as he was told and never bothered to think about the "why" of the matter. He was built like a keg – short and round . . . but not fat. There was no way in the world anyone could get fat off the food in these parts, scarce as it was. But it didn't look as though this had caused him to miss any meals. Now he stood peeking out from behind his brother, not daring to venture any closer without some sort of firearm on his person . . . and too bad for him, neither of them owned one.

" Off your keister, mutt!" Ceede yelled again, brandishing the bat again in what he thought was a threatening gesture. I made a point of blandly looking in another direction and lolling my tongue out as though I was laughing. This insignificant gesture infuriated Ceede.

Through the chain-link he snarled, " Think you're funny? I'll show you funny, you arrogant little – "

He threw the door open and stormed inside. Out of the corner of my eye I watched as he stopped a little behind me and raised the bat to strike, thinking that I wasn't looking. But I was ready for him. Oh boy, was I ready.

I'd been waiting all day for this.

I spun around and gathered myself like a coiled snake before lunging the length of the chain, ignoring the already-tight steel collar suddenly yank on my throat as I reached the end, then sank my fangs into Ceede's unprotected shoulder. He wouldn't be able to swing that bat for another week or so, and I made sure to add another couple of days onto that reckoning by biting down harder, getting rewarded with a howl of pain from Ceede, followed immediately by his heavy boot catching me in the ribs.

I let go and sprang off to the side before he could kick me again. He had dropped the bat and was clutching his shoulder, which to my eternal satisfaction I saw was dripping with blood. He staggered upright, and I watched him closely, to see if I could get another shot in. His teeth were gritted together in pain, but his eyes were blazing with fury.

" Cursed . . . half-breed," he growled. " Just like the rest of your kind . . . You'll get yours one day . . . "

And you will too, I sneered in the back of my mind. Karma'll come around and bite you in the bum.

He suddenly whirled and hollered at a baffled Hann, " What did you say?"

" I . . . I didn't say anything," Hann answered slowly, scratching his stomach.

Ceede swore under his breath and stayed facing him for a few moments, nursing his injured shoulder. I leapt forward again, but this time he jumped aside and caught my head with his heel as I passed. I tumbled in mid-air and came crashing down heavily on my side. He was waiting for me.

The steel-shod toe of his boot exploded in my gut with the force of a battering ram, and I let out an involuntary barking yelp as the air burst from my lungs. He didn't wait for me to regain my breath but began lighting into me with furious vengeance, alternating feet, making sure he got every square inch of me before taking a breather.

By this time, I was a mess. My body was so bruised I could hardly move my head out of the blood puddle forming around it. But I sure had the energy to snarl . . . so snarl I did. Ceede met my defiance with a vicious kick that sent me spinning in the dirt and filth of the yard.

" Um . . . Ceede?" Hann was watching with wide eyes. " Do . . . do you think that's a good idea, to beat the dog up like that? I mean, he is guarding our stuff and all . . . "

Ceede had his leg hauled back, ready to belt me again, and I was watching that steel-plated toe with glazed eyes, half-hoping that it would send me into blissful oblivion, yet at the same time dreading that it would. He looked down at me, and paused just a few moments, evidently taking in Hann's words. Some days, Ceede made slugs look like speed demons.

After a moment's consideration he decided it wouldn't be worth his while to pick up a new animal for his junkyard in the instance that I ceased functioning. He lowered his foot, and looked down at me.

" Hope you've learned your lesson, mutt," he growled, taking in my battered and disheveled state. " Next time, though, chances are I won't be so forgiving."

I managed a weak snarl. Forgiving? Don't make me laugh.

He stomped around my prone figure and retrieved his bat, then marched out of the yard, lingering long enough to throw me a victorious glare. He stood outlined against the eternally overcast sky like a shadow of Death itself . . . and with his gaunt frame, he sure looked the part.

" You know the routine, trash," he sneered. " Keep this place locked down tight, or it's your hide I'll take it out of in the morning." He closed the gate with a clang, and I could hear Hann trying to inspect the wound so he could treat it.

The sounds of their arguing and protesting faded into the distance, disappearing altogether as they went into the ramshackle, cast-off trailer they called home. When I couldn't hear them anymore I stirred, shakily pushing myself up into a half-sitting, half-sprawling position. From there I surveyed the sorry state of the junkyard around me for the countless time.

The single window of the trailer glowed a weak orange as one of them turned on a light. I disgustedly turned away from that direction and focused on a new spot on the horizon, where the sun must have set a few minutes ago.

A light breeze wafted various scents and smells into my aching nose, and I automatically catalogued them in my head: there, a little bit of machine oil; and that one had to be some old dead drunky out in the wilderness . . . I picked up other scents too, ones that seemed familiar, or at least that I should have been able to pick up on, but for some reason or another I couldn't think of it at the moment. I managed to rally myself to stagger the dozen or so feet to a worn spot under a car fender, which I used as a place to sleep most nights. Ceede in his everlasting kindness hadn't thought of giving me a decent shelter.

I padded into my sleeping quarters painfully, feeling every spot in my body where that steel in his boot had connected. I lowered myself onto the ground, barely able to suppress a soft groan as my bruises and gashes protested.

I gingerly laid my head down on my paws and tried to relax, but as time wore on and my wounds began to stiffen, I gave up and remained staring out at the gloomy night sky. It was cold tonight, and I could see my breath frosting in the air as I panted, trying in vain to force my pain aside and think of something else.

It was hard; all I could think about right now was sinking my fangs into Ceede's throat, and feeling his blood bathe my muzzle and run down my jaws. Not what you'd call soothing or pleasant thoughts, but I was cold, hungry, and in a lot of pain. I wasn't feeling particularly soothed or pleasant at the moment.

Most nights I made it a habit to get up and pad around the yard at least once a night. It was an old habit, from when I was a pup trying to please my master. I would do everything he told me, from barking at strangers to lunging against the fence with all the ferocity a puppy my age could muster . . . you name it. What threw the monkey wrench in the works was discovering that I had a wolf side. That did it for Ceede. Like most of the ill-informed serfs in these parts, he was superstitious about wolves, and treated me like some kind of disease afterward.

Now, full-grown, bitter and disillusioned, I could care less about pleasing that trash. I cast a weary glance around the yard. No intruders. What a surprise. _I'd bet Ceede would be proud of me_, I though sourly. I kept this yard relatively vermin-free, whether rodent or otherwise, simply because it kept me from going insane from boredom. I couldn't recall the last time I'd been out free. Maybe all those blows to the head were starting to affect my memory. But for as long as I could remember, I'd been in this miserable place.

I turned to lick the blood running from my shoulder, but my aching side punished me after a while, so I stopped and rested my head on my paws again. Some time passed. Around midnight, a hushed whisper – the beat of silent wings – made me prick one ear, though I didn't look up.

A smooth, smiling voice cut into my thoughts.

_Well, well . . . don't you look marvelous as always_, it said, then chuckled regretfully.

I made it a point to keep staring straight ahead. The voice persisted.

_What? Not going to greet me? Or even say Good evening? Just a hello would be nice. _

I didn't say anything. Finally I heard an amused sigh of frustration, and the slight click of talons releasing the chain link fence. A dark shape whooshed over my head and landed in front of my nose. A scaled and taloned claw poked the tip of my nose curiously.

_You still alive in there?_ the raven asked, dipping his head to look at me more closely.

_Barely_, I growled, then winced. He shook his head, seeing my injuries.

_What'd you do this time? Bite his leg? Steal his underpants?_

_No_, I answered, trying to let the pain show on my face._ I just nipped him on the shoulder, that's all._

_Yeah, right,_ he snorted, and laughed. _Your "nips" are anything but._

I only laid my ears back and let out a sharp huff. The large black bird hopped sideways, out of my breath's fog, and cocked his head.

_The only one who's suffering from being in this dump is you, Ren_, he said softly.

I knew he was pitying me, and that irritated me to no extent.

_I'm fine_, I replied shortly. _I told you, I've tried escaping before. I've tried hiding everywhere I can think of_._ I've hid everywhere I _couldn't_ think of, and yet, they _still _find me! They could get a half dozen other mutts to slink about this place, and yet they insist on keeping _me!

_You haven't tried the cities, have you? _he asked, hopping up and taking a seat next to my ear. I rolled my eyes.

_Yeah, of course. Why didn't I think of that before? _I wondered dryly._ Hm . . . because it's _suicide_? You know people in the cities are more paranoid than these country hicks. If I'm lucky, I'll get caught and put down and out of my misery. _I chuckled humorlessly at the thought. _Although, it'd be better than staying here._

The raven was silent for a few minutes. _I've seen them_, he said at length, speaking with such seriousness that I half-raised my head from my paws to look at him in surprise.

_You've been raiding the saloon garbage cans again, haven't you? I've told you to stop drinking, it'll only mess up your flight pattern – _

_No! _he interrupted me. _I've seen _them_, don't you get it?_

Call me dense, but I honestly had no idea what he was talking about.

_Seen what?_ I asked, more than a little irritated with his cryptic outbursts.

_Wolves,_ he answered slowly. _In the city . . . _

I felt my heart skip a beat at the mention of my kind. Well, partly my kind. I had secretly wished I could be full wolf instead of just part, and I liked to think that the wolf side of me held a larger part in my genetics. And, given my rebellious attitude, it was likely.

_Wolves? _I repeated._ But why would they be in the city? Are they insane? That's just asking for trouble! _I lifted my head up to stare at him. _They ought to know they'll be shot and sight and questions asked later! What's their deal?_

The raven shook his head and leaned closer to me as though Ceede or Hann would be listening in to some deep secret he was about to impart to me. Didn't the fool know the humans couldn't understand us?

_They can alter their appearances,_ he whispered, looking over his shoulder. _They have the ability to hide themselves . . . by looking like humans. _

_How do they do that? _I asked in wonder, but at the same time thinking it was ridiculous. Wolves passing as humans? What the heck?

_And anyways_, I continued, my dubiousness returning to me, _What happens if they get questioned? Humans can't understand us._

The raven smiled knowingly. _You would think so, wouldn't you? _he said wryly. _But the wolves can make themselves heard by humans and can talk to them. . . it's the ultimate disguise. And it sure comes in handy, too, _he added with a smirk. _There's this one wolf up north that makes a living out of robbing trains . . . with a gang of humans at his beck and call! Isn't that something?_

_Yeah, it is, _I muttered distractedly, lost in my own thoughts. So wolves could – supposedly – hide themselves and pass as humans? Sounded a little far-fetched to me, and I still hadn't completely discredited my former theory that my little flying friend had found a little too much booze in the saloon dump.

Still, if it was true . . . and wolves could mingle with humans and not get caught, then maybe I'd found the perfect solution to my dilemma.

A/n: Well, there it is. Chapter one in all of its fully uploaded glory. Questions about the plot? Complaints? Suggestions? Rants? Feel free to contact me, either through the review, or my e-mail, I don't care. :) I hope you liked it, and I shall see you next time! Same Dom-time, same Dom-place!

It's a Megatokyo joke; if you don't get it, then don't worry about it. :)


	2. Plan

A/n: Hello again. Tsume.hack here once more with another chapter bursting at the seams with . . . um . . . stuff. Hope you enjoy. :)

The sky was beginning to turn light when Gabe took his leave. He had spent the night telling me about the wonders of these wolves' so-called abilities, going on about how they escaped the humans time after time with their disguises. I remained skeptical until the last, not wanting to give myself false hope, and he finally gave up. He hopped up from his perch atop my head, where it felt like he had begun to make a nest in my fur, saying cheerfully, " Well, if you don't believe me, then maybe one day you'll see them for yourselves, my dear Renegade. I must be going . . . got to get some food in the old stoma – oh . . . I'm sorry." He stopped suddenly and his face fell as he noticed my ears slowly folding themselves back against my head.

His sudden discomfiture was easy to explain, and I knew the reason: As a guard dog, I was only fed three times a week, since Ceede thought that keeping me hungry made me more vicious. Actually, nothing could make me more vicious than the sight of his face, so him feeding me only made me angrier than if I was left alone . . . ah, it was complicated. But as it was, it was usually Hann who fed me.

Did I say "fed me"? What I meant was, push my food pan into the yard with a ten-foot pole. I mentioned before that he just plain wet his pants around me, and it was only Ceede threatening to throw him in with me that got him off his scared little bum.

So, Gabe could eat while I starved. There was a pretty uncomfortable pause in which he drew a line in the dirt with one claw, until I shook myself and gave a short scoff.

" Yeah, yeah, you feathered stomach," I sneered, prodding him with one paw and making him jump to one side with a "caw!" of surprise. He was caught off guard by my suddenly playful attitude, but he recovered quickly. He hopped over to where I was lying, then pecked my ear and retreated to see what I would do. I was about to retaliate when a sleepy yell from the dark trailer interrupted me.

" Okay! Okay, I'm going, Ceede!" Hann protested. He was right by the door, about to come out, but he had been stalling for time and now his brother was mad at him.

" Oops, gotta go," Gabe said, and flapped off heavily before circling around over the yard and calling, " See you around, Ren!"

" Yeah," I responded, not nearly as enthusiastically. What could you expect? I was penned up here all day and night, while he could fly free. Without moving me head I watched him fly out of sight, then shifted my gaze over to where the bumbling fool Hann was tripping out of the door of the trailer with my food dish in hand.

I almost sighed out loud as he stumbled and some of the food spilled onto the ground, never to be retrieved. _People take food for granted around here_, I thought, pushing myself off the ground and stepping out of my shelter, stretching my back only fractionally. My wounds were closed already, which said something about the healing abilities of the wolf in my blood, but it still hurt to move any part of my body. Hann, meanwhile, was approaching the fence with the hesitancy and distaste one reserves for diseases or caged lions. I just sat down and watched him sullenly.

He, of course, grew even more nervous when he felt me glaring at him dispassionately, and he almost spilled even more of my food as he sat the pan down with shaking hands.

I narrowed my eyes as I watched him fumble around with his keys, then try to unlock the hatch he normally slid the food through before making his customary retreat. My intense dislike of the human race had only intensified during the night, Gabe's stories notwithstanding, and I felt a strong desire to spit. Canine jaws, however, aren't particularly suited to spitting, so in disgust I resumed Hann-watching.

_Stupid, pathetic human_, I said to myself. If there was one good thing about being me, it was that they couldn't understand a word I was saying. If only Ceede could decipher the words I was snarling at him all those times long ago, how many times I had shouted curses at the far-off moon and stars while he was in bed sleeping – he would've had a fit.

_Idiot!_ I exclaimed, when Hann clumsily slid the dish in and half the food slopped out. I was glaring at the wasted food when I realized that Hann hadn't yet taken off like a moonstruck hare. He was looking around wildly as though someone had tapped him on the shoulder and darted off before he could catch them. I watched, nonplussed, as he glanced over his shoulder and back with the most baffled expression on his face. If I wasn't as confused as he was, I would've laughed.

" Who's there?" he called cautiously, still looking warily about. I looked around too, thinking that he'd caught something I hadn't, which would be a first. But the air was completely free of any strange scents – save that horrible-smelling soap Hann had used the night before – and I couldn't hear anything unusual for some distance around.

So what had he heard?

As usual, I voiced myself, knowing he wouldn't hear me. _What is your _problem I asked in irritation, and to my astonishment he jumped about two feet in the air and spun to face me . . . but he wasn't exactly looking at me.

" Who is that?" he asked suspiciously, glaring around. " Stop messing around and come on out, I heard you just now."

I was completely lost. As far as I was concerned, I had been the only one talking at the time, and he most certainly couldn't understand . . . me . . .

_Wolves can make themselves heard by the humans and can talk to them_, Gabe had said.

I was only part wolf . . . so did that work for me? And why just now? I was a staunch skeptic, and I had very firmly stated my belief that Gabe's stories were only so much horse hockey, but right now it seemed all my theories were being shot to pieces by reality.

Hann could hear me and understand me. How interesting.

I decided to try something.

_I am the Ghost of Christmas Past_, I called in a haunting voice. Hann jumped again – man, it was so much fun to watch that little lard-tub hop – and he began to scan around in nervous, jerking twitches. It was highly amusing, and not once did he even look in my direction. The possibility that I could talk hadn't even crossed his almost non-existent mind.

What a find. Just seeing it transpire right in front of me, have it happen to me . . . it was almost too much. I had never thought in a thousand years that wolves could do this kind of stuff. Ceede or Hann hadn't thought of it either, as evidenced by Hann's panicking flight back to the trailer.

I sat there staring at my half-empty food bowl. I thought about that and laughed inwardly. Yeah, I was a pessimist through and through. The food dish wasn't half full . . . in fact, it wasn't even half empty. I slowly walked over and finished what was left in it before crawling back under my fender and lying down in a daze.

_Talking wolves . . . talking with humans . . . Hann could hear me . . . _I shut my eyes and tried to concentrate on one thought at a time.

_Have you tried the city?_

No. They've always caught me.

_Well, wolves have this special ability . . . you should be able to hide there and be safe._

But where do I go?

I was confused . . . and more than a little worried, but not scared. Suddenly discovering I could make myself heard by a human was quite unsettling for a guy who had always shouted unheard curses at his oppressors. I tried to think of what had been different about this time, why Hann had heard me now but not then . . . and I couldn't think of a reason.

Maybe my will came through in my voice, and I actually wanted myself to be heard. Maybe. I didn't know.

I shut my eyes tighter. What to do . . . Hann would have told Ceede by now, and he would come storming out here to see if it were true, then try and sell me to some freak show . . .

I laid my ears back at the sound of feet hitting the ground, coming from the direction of the trailer. They were coming this way. I could hear the hard footfalls of Ceede's long strides, with Hann's more hesitant steps behind him. I listened as they came to a stop a little way from the entrance to the yard.

" I . . . I don't know what it was, Ceede," Hann was saying pathetically. He kicked a rock and set it bouncing into the fence. " But I know I heard something out here."

I opened my eyes again and saw them standing there, Ceede looking around sourly. He was wearing a jacket pulled hastily over his scruffy pajamas and a pair of boots jammed on his feet. To top it all off, he looked very annoyed.

" What did it sound like?" he asked. It was clear he was low on patience, even more so because it was early in the morning.

" It was someone saying " Idiot!" and . . . and something about ghosts, and Christmas!" Hann burst out. Ceede raised an eyebrow and looked around again.

" I don't see anyone here," he said finally, in that 'I have the last word around here' voice. " No one but the mutt. Do you think he said it?"

" N-no . . . " Hann snuffled miserably. " But I know I heard someone out here."

" It's early, you fat lug," Ceede said irritably. " Stop sleepwalking and go back inside. I oughta throw you in there with the dog for getting me up this early."

Hann froze.

Ceede just ignored him and said, stifling a yawn, " Just go. I need to check on the tire pile anyway. Might as well do it since I'm up."

" Okay . . . " Hann quickly shuffled off, and Ceede remained watching him until he disappeared inside the trailer. Then, he slowly opened the swinging gate and let himself in, locking it behind him. I watched him, the hair along my back rising slowly.

He stopped just in front of my resting place and crouched until he was eye level with me. I hadn't moved, but I was growling in the back of my throat. He smirked for a moment, seeing that I was still in bad shape from yesterday, and reached into his pocket.

I leapt to my feet and Ceede, reacting almost instantly, drew an ancient-looking gun and pointed it right in my face. I knew what a gun was, and held my ground. Ceede relaxed slightly and let out a laugh, but the gun remained steady. He continued to smirk as he said quietly, "Think you're so clever, do you? Try and freak out poor Hann with your little mind games? Don't think I'm dumb, you mutt. I know what you are, and I know what you can do."

He switched the gun to the other hand, and went on, " I've been waiting to see this myself. Do it. Say something." His eyes narrowed. " _Say something_."

I remained motionless. Ceede frowned, and pushed the muzzle of the gun closer. " Say something," he hissed. " I know you can."

I stared at him defiantly. I wasn't afraid of death, not as long as I was locked up here. It would be a welcome release from my suffering. Ceede saw that I wasn't about to budge, or comply with his wishes, so he simply brought his hand back and rammed the butt of the gun into the side of my head.

Stars exploded in my vision, and I felt myself reeling to the ground. Stubbornly, I kept my feet and managed to blindly remain standing. When my sight cleared somewhat I saw Ceede walking away, and I squelched the urge to run the length of my chain and bite him again; instead I sat down panting. My body was trembling, and I could feel something wet running slowly down the side of my head.

Ceede kicked the gate shut with a clang. I watched him go into the trailer again, and lay down again, now with an aching head. I looked down at the ground and saw drops of blood from where it had run down the side of my face.

Once, Gabe had asked me how much longer I would take this never-ending punishment, and I told him I didn't know. I didn't want to leave, get caught, and brought back here and treated worse than before. And now that I thought about Ceede's reaction to my being able to speak, I realized that they probably thought I was some sort of valuable specimen for being a wolf, even though they were deathly afraid of me and I wasn't even a full-blooded one, at that.

It was beginning to look like yet another bleak, dreary day for the junkyard. The grayish sky was starting to lighten up from the sun, forever hidden in its covert behind thick clouds that would never disperse. I still lay there in the wan light with my eyes half-shut, thinking.

I had been thinking since last night, and I had been thinking hard about what Gabe had told me. Wolves in hiding, lurking in the cities? It sounded far-fetched, and so unbelievable, I could hardly bring myself to even wish it were true.

But then, if I could hardly believe it, then the humans sure as heck wouldn't believe it either. They were always closing their minds and eyes to things they knew were true, so why open themselves to something they had never seen before?

I made up my mind after much deliberation and thinking through the course of my actions. Since, sitting in the junkyard, I had all the time in the world to plot my next escape. I would wait for or set up a distraction, and when Ceede and Hann were busy with the decoy, I would take that chance and get a head start for the nearest city. Once there, I would use the "wolf disguise" thing and hide or blend in with the crowd until they gave up on me.

I prayed fervently – yes, I _prayed_ – that this would be my last, successful attempt to finally gain my freedom.

There was one minor problem, however, just one tiny little problem: I had no idea how the wolves' disguises worked, or if it would work for me. Evidently communicating with humans would be no problem, so I could pull that off easy. Actually using the disguise would be another matter altogether.

I waited all day for nightfall, which would mean Gabe's arrival soon after. Nothing happened in all that time that was worth noting, at least for me. I saw a couple of jeeps drive by that were loaded down with boxes and teenagers crammed in every available cranny of space, but that wasn't of any interest to me. They stopped for a moment in front of the junkyard, but I figured that they were so piled down with stuff that there couldn't possibly be anything in this place that would interest them.

As I was to find out later that night . . . boy, was I wrong.

A/n: Oh no! Whatever will happen next?

Wouldn't you like to know:) Feel free to review at your leisure, and I shall see you next time, my dear hobbitses!


	3. City

A/n: Ahoy from my computer. Sorry for that last cliffhanger in the second chapter, but I couldn't resist.:) And anyway, you all probably want to give Ceede a piece of your mind for being so darn mean to our little protagonist . . . But I'll shut up now and let you guys read. Hope you enjoy this latest installment.

**Chapter 3: The City**

They came back later that night.

I was dozing in my usual spot under the car fender when I caught the far-off sound of engines rumbling in the distance. In my half-conscious state, my first thought was that another food shipment was coming in, when I realized that it was nearly midnight, and no one in their right mind would deliver food so late.

I jumped to my feet, wide awake and bristling, as the sounds of the engines drew nearer. I could hear whoops and hollers coming from the approaching vehicles, and a snarl began building in my throat.

In the gloom beyond the fence I saw three large, black silhouettes careen toward the junkyard at high speed, and the roar of their engines blasted my eardrums. I winced, and was about to bark a warning to the intruders when something flew through the air and smashed on the ground to my right.

Flames erupted where the bottle had shattered, and began engulfing the old, rotten timber and other trash piled about. Within seconds the fire had grown and was pouring smoke into the sky. The acrid smell of burning rubber and plastic filled the air and made my eyes water.

Tearing my gaze from the fire, I saw the three jeeps circling the yard to where the miserable trailer sat on the hill. I flung myself the length of the chain, barking and snarling, but I wasn't barking a warning to Ceede or Hann. I was yelling, _Damn it, don't leave me here to burn, you bastards!_

The fire had spread along to my car and I could smell the stench of ancient paint blistering in the heat. I don't think the kids in the cars knew I was in there; they were too intent on destruction to pay attention, I guess.

The trailer's windows smashed as someone flung rocks, then more bottles, and a split second later fire blazed through the broken openings, licking up the dry walls and encircling the roof. That seedy little camper went up like a barbecue on a holiday. There was no chance for either of the two to make it out of there alive, and to tell you the truth I didn't feel sorry one bit.

I kept my pity for myself, because, in the midst of all this fire, I sure needed it. I tugged and yanked on the chain as hard as I could, and it didn't do any good. Ceede had made sure to drive that thing as hard as he could into the ground, and Hann had forgotten to unclip me for the night. Well, it was a little late now.

Whoops continued to fill the cold air. Someone launched another bottle into the yard, and a new fire sprang up behind me. Now I was starting to worry. The whole yard was in flames, and I was caught in the middle of it all. Worse, if I did escape, I didn't know if those guys were packing any guns.

Sure, I'd be free . . . for a moment, anyway. One well-aimed bullet would put me out of my misery for good.

I snarled to myself and pulled even more viciously at the chain. I wasn't going to go down without a fight. The collar dug into my neck, and I'd probably feel it in the morning, but I didn't care. If those morons out there felt the need to go around killing things, I could return the favor in full, with interest.

The chain was red-hot where the flames had touched, and it was working its way up to my steel collar. Pretty soon I'd be hot under the collar – pun fully intended – once that heat made its way to me. I was fairly alarmed by now, and beginning to think that I wouldn't even make it out of the yard alive, when a chunk of burning wreckage fell from its perch atop the junk pile and landed right on top of the taut chain, jerking me forward with a yelp.

When I regained my feet, I saw that the junk – some kind of heavy digging machinery – had hit the heated chain right at its weakest point, and the steel was already beginning to buckle and distort. My hopes rose fractionally at this sight. A couple of good tugs and I'd be good to go.

I paused a moment to summon my last reserves of strength, and in that short bit of time one of the kids in the jeep spotted me in the midst of all that fire and hollered, " Hey guys! Look over there!" He pointed at me as he shouted. " It's a wolf!"

Ah, great. Thank you, blabbermouth.

There was the screech of brakes and sound of tires crunching on snow and gravel as the teens in the other cars stopped to look. " Where?" one demanded, standing up in the jeep. The first one continued to point at me.

My instincts were telling me that they were not interested me solely from a humane point of view. The fires alone could've told me that. If they'd been here to help out a poor, half-starved guard dog, they didn't need to torch the place to do it. My hackles went up once again.

The jeeps began to edge closer for a better look at me. I remained where I was, now saving my energy for the final pull against the chain, and a desperate flight, if need be.

" Hey, let's get him out of there," an older kid suggested, a sly grin slowly spreading across his face. " Bet we could sell him in the city for a fortune."

That did it. I gathered myself and leaped forward, feeling the collar crush against my throat, and then suddenly go slack as the chain broke with a snap. I saw a portion of the fence, weakened by the fire, collapse upon itself with a shower of sparks. I made for that gap, noticing that I still had a length of chain, about two or three feet long, still trailing after me. One of the jeeps was sitting right outside the gap, with the older kid standing in the passenger seat still discussing his brilliant plans to auction me off.

I dashed forward, leaped onto the hood of the car, and used that as a spring board to launch myself right into that kid. I felt my jaws close on the soft flesh of his throat, and as my teeth sank in I caught the shocked eyes of the teen staring into my own.

_Yeah, that's right_, I thought, keeping my voice low enough for only him to hear it, _Take a nice, long look. _I bit down, crushing his windpipe, anger lending its strength to my jaws. _Try selling me off now, bastard!_

" Holy - !"

Gasps and cries erupted from the teens around me as they watched in horror. The older teen slid down lifelessly from his seat and sprawled on the hard snow, never to get up again. He'd gone on his last raid.

I glared about at the stunned faces around me, daring them to come closer. Then, in ones and twos, those faces hardened in anger and malice, and the teens began to advance. I stood where I was on the jeep's hood, my front paws braced against where the windshield had once been. When the driver tried to swing at me with his club I dodged it, lunged forward, and bit through his jugular. Jumping out of the spray of blood that followed, I landed on the ground and took off, the angry shouts of the kids behind me.

Now that my initial anger had been released, I needed to face my situation with a level head. There was no way I could bite all those kids' heads off, no matter how pissed I was. So, I did the only rational thing there was to do: I ran like hell.

I heard the engines roar behind me as I sprinted off, ears laid flat against the icy wind. I could see the land around me for some distance, courtesy of the burning junkyard, but once I moved out of the fire's glow I was hard-pressed to remain oriented. I had a hard time dodging rocks and bushes in the darkness, especially with that thick chain still dangling from my collar.

I kept running. My first plan was to head for the city Gabe had told me about. While it meant mingling with humans and hiding, at least it would be better than starving out in the wilderness.

A bottle tumbled through the air to my right, and I veered off to the left sharply before it hit the ground, exploding with a flash. I saw my shadow, sharply defined, out of the corner of my eye for an instant, and then all was dark as before. Whoever threw that had a pretty good arm, I thought to myself, still running.

Another flash lit up the landscape around me. I swerved and dodged around a cluster of rocks, hid in its shadow, and waited for the cars to roar past before taking off again in another direction.

I got a pretty good distance between myself and my pursuers when they must have realized they were chasing nothing but shadows, and three pairs of headlights turned once more to face me. _Crap, crap, crap_, I thought, my tongue lolling out as I sped across the flat land. There were no more rocks to dart around or hide behind; it was just an all-out sprint until my luck or my strength gave out. Some part of me bucked at running away, wanted to stand and fight until the last, but another, more rational part of me knew that I really wanted to stay alive, and fleeing was the best option I had at this point.

_Renegade! Is that you? _came a voice high above my head, and I risked a glance upward without breaking stride. Sure enough, Gabe was up there, but I could barely see him against the night sky.

_Gabe! _I called back, turning my attention back to running. My breath came in puffs in the frosty air, but I knew I had a ways to go before I tired out, courtesy of my wolf blood. Gabe swooped in low and flew a little off to my right and above me, keeping pace with my running.

_What happened?_ he asked, looking over his shoulder at the incoming vehicles. _What happened to the yard?_

_These guys came,_ I answered, _They torched the place and burned the trailer with the two still inside. Then they came after me. _

I was silent for a moment, still running. _They think I'm a wolf, and my guess is they want to sell me off to the highest bidder._

_If you're headed for the city, you're a little off_, Gabe informed me, as if he could guess where I was running. _The city's more north of here; turn more to the left . . . yeah, like that. Now you're good. _

As if to tell us that they were still a force to be reckoned with, another bottle smashed directly in front of me, sending up a burst of flame. Gabe gave a croak and flapped out of the way. I had no time to stop and veer to the left as I had done before; I had to jump over it.

_Arrgghh!_ I groaned, shutting my eyes as the flames brushed my unprotected stomach. I hit the ground on the other side, rolled, and regained my feet, still running, though a fraction slower than what I had been. The teens in the jeeps hooted as they pulled closer. I pushed aside the pain and focused on keeping my legs moving. Gabe swooped down low until his wings almost brushed my flat ears, saying, _If you keep up at this pace, you're gonna die of exhaustion before we reach the city. Pace yourself._

_How the hell am I supposed to pace myself when I'm running for my life! _I demanded, now panting. _And how far away is this city, anyway?_

_You're close, _he reassured me, _We're not too far away. Look! You can see the dome from here._

I looked, and there on the distant horizon, like a blister on the earth, was the pale gray and blue glow of a dome city. If I looked close enough I could make out magenta spots here and there: the telltale lights of a police car chasing some punk through the streets.

I'd never been in a city before, at least not to my knowledge, and I had mixed emotions despite all of Gabe's reassurances that wolves lived cities all across the country without trouble. I tirelessly reminded him that I wasn't full-blooded, and who was to say that the wolves weren't elitists, and in their territorial zeal wouldn't tear me to pieces for being a half-breed?

_Death in the country, death in the city _. . . I narrowed my eyes as the dome drew closer. _I'll take you all on._

_Now, now . . . _Gabe chided me, soaring easily above me, _Save the tough-guy remarks for when you're safe in the dome._

_Oh yeah? Watch this! _I drew a deep breath and yelled back over my shoulder, _Come on, you lazy bastards! Is this the best you can do? I've seen lame spiders crawl faster than that! _Then, chuckling like a maniac, I put on more speed. Gabe was aghast.

_You are just asking for trouble, _he told me, shaking his head. The dome was a little more than a mile away now. Behind me, the kids in their cars were arguing and fighting over who had just insulted them. One of the jeeps swerved, almost sideswiping another, as one kid punched another one, and they both fell on top of the driver. That car slowed and eventually came to a halt. The other two closed to take its place.

" Gun it!" I heard someone yell. " Get 'im before he reaches the dome!"

So, they were scared of losing me in the city? Too bad for them. I put everything I had into the last half-mile, while the rumble and whine of the engines behind me filled the air until that was all I could hear. They were no more than twenty meters behind me.

_Almost there! _Gabe yelled.

Directly ahead of me, the huge black steel gates loomed in the thick walls, both slightly ajar. Beyond them, I caught a glimpse of buildings, and streets lined with trees. I dashed up the dirty, trampled snow road and right on through the enormous gateway, right into a blast of warm air that made me turn my head away quickly, blinking rapidly. I hadn't expected that, and I paused for several seconds just to get my bearings.

I was standing in a courtyard, lined with old, sorry-looking trees and rotten fences. Decrepit houses with clotheslines strung between them loomed high over my head, shutting out the sight of the dome above. A single streetlamp flickered on and off with a weary buzz, as if it wanted nothing more than to be shut off forever. Even the walkways seemed to be drooping in resignation at their fate. Everywhere I looked I saw broken pavement, rusted metal, exposed wires, and streets in disrepair.

_So this is the city . . ._ I said, with a sinking feeling growing in my chest that had nothing to do with the several mile sprint I'd just run. Gabe landed with a clatter on one of the rusted metal utility boxes nearby and watched me solemnly.

_It's not the Promised Land,_ he said softly, _But it's better than what you had._

_Yeah, _I laughed suddenly, _The grass is always greener, right?_ I felt happier than I had in a long time, and I was about to say something else when the gates shuddered and opened wider with a groan. Three headlights – one of the jeeps had smashed into a rock on the way in and was missing one – shone in and caught me in their beams.

I crouched instinctively; Gabe shot into the air.

" There he is!" a kid yelled, and with that the teens poured off the jeeps like vermin off a sinking ship, and stampeded towards me, brandishing clubs, old guns, and whatever else they were packing. Once again, flight proved better than fight, and I took off like a shot, running down the dark alleyways and bridges into the heart of the city.

_These guys never give up, _I remarked, as Gabe appeared ahead of me.

_Just follow me, _he said grimly, banking slightly as we headed out onto a large pipe that led to a rooftop farther out. He sped to the right, and I followed suit, leaping down onto a stairway twenty feet down and running along it before jumping with ease to a ledge that must have been about thirty feet away.

I stopped stock-still, and stared back the way I came.

_Whoa . . . _I said in amazement. _How the hell did I do that?_

Gabe came sweeping by impatiently. _I don't know, _he answered roughly, _But if you want to save your butt I suggest doing it again, and again, until we shake these guys._

_Agreed._ I followed him again, and leapt a chasm to the next available pipe, then following that for several minutes until we reached a point where I had to find another way around. After ten minutes of leaping, jumping, and more running, the yells and calls behind me finally got fainter and fainter until they disappeared entirely, and then Gabe swooped up to the high point of the dome, and from his vantage point announced that we had lost them for good.

_Thanks, Gabe, _I said gratefully, finally sitting down in exhaustion. We had stopped on top of one of the many decaying buildings in the area, and now, from the shelter of a half-ruined doorway I surveyed the city below me, some faint lights still on, suggesting insomniacs or paranoid city-dwellers. I heaved a deep sigh, and Gabe, perched on my back, squawked in surprise as he flapped to regain his balance.

_Warn me when you plan to do that again, will you?_ he asked, irritatedly fluffing out his feathers and settling back down for a nap.

_Yeah, sorry, _I said, yawning and tucking my paws under my chin. For the moment I seemed safe, which was more than I had going for me a while ago, and I was content with that. I vaguely remembered the fact that humans didn't like my kind, but I decided to leave the whole disguise thing till tomorrow. I figured I would wake up, take a crack at it, and walk around for a bit to get the hang of it.

I closed my eyes. The scents of the city drifted into my nose, and I found that I couldn't catalog them as I had done so easily in the junkyard. I smelled booze, and the scent of oiled machinery . . . but it was different. The decaying smell wasn't as distinct here . . . and I could smell other things, things I couldn't identify at first, but they were strong. I recognized them from back in the yard, and I suddenly realized with a start that I was smelling _them._

The wolves were here.

A/n: So . . . he made it to the city. Now for the hard part: figuring out the human disguise and blending in with the crowd. Oh, and I swear that Blue's gonna show up in the next chapter; she's been put off long enough, huh? This is a BlueOC story, anyway . . . And about the timeline of the whole story, it does fit in with the show . . . somewhat. More on that with the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this. Laterness.


	4. Blue

A/n: Oy, it's me. School just started back up and already I'm loaded down with homework. This chapter gave me a little bit of trouble, and was sitting on my desktop for the longest . . . I figured I'd better put it up before I get so bogged down with work I won't be able to update for a month. That said, I hope you enjoy this latest, thrilling, action-packed chapter of _Running Renegade_! Ah, the shameless self-advertising . . .

**Chapter the Fourth: Blue**

_Rise and shine, you lazy bum!_ a cheery voice called in my ear, right before something gave it a brief series of tugs. I groaned and shut my eyes tighter, willing myself to go back to sleep. I had just been having one of the best and weirdest dreams of my life – something about green grass, birds, and running – right before I woke up. Half-asleep, I tried to call it back up, but it eluded me, and I opened one eye, ready to give my self-appointed wake-up call a piece of my mind.

Gabe stood before me, preening his feathers and looking quite pleased with himself about something. I just lay there glaring at him through my one open eye. He avoided my gaze, electing instead to hop onto my back, stroll onto my head, and from an unwelcome spot between my ears cock his head down and peer into my face.

_Are you going to wake up, or do I have to roll you out of bed?_ he asked with great seriousness. In answer, I rolled over onto my back, and Gabe barely managed to escape with all of his feathers intact. He flapped awkwardly into the air, landed unceremoniously a few feet away, and ruffled himself up indignantly.

_You almost killed me!_ he exclaimed, still ruffled. He couldn't see me smirking at the wall as I rubbed a paw over my nose and pretended to continue sleeping.

I didn't see him coming, but I heard his battle cry, _Die, evil wolf!_ and yelped when I felt his sharp beak jab my tail. I rolled onto my feet, wide awake, and was about to yank a few feathers out of _his_ tail when he suddenly cawed, _Human!_ and hopped farther into the shadows of the half-destroyed concrete room we had slept in. I followed suit, and from the caved-in window watched as a burly guy in stained coveralls and a red cap came slouching by with a container of gasoline slung over one shoulder. I winced as the sharp odor wafted into my nose, and I stifled a sneeze.

The guy paused, looked over his shoulder, and continued walking. When the human disappeared, Gabe let out a deep breath and walked over to my covert in the window, and peered after him.

_Yup, that's what you have to deal with in the city, _he sighed, shaking his head. _Always on the run from the humans, always watching where you walk because you never know who's watching you._

_It's the same in the country, too,_ I countered, backing away from the window and stretching. _Only there's less people and more hicks. _Despite my injuries I felt good, much better than I had ever felt before, and I knew it was because I was free, free to be my own master.

_Freedom _. . . just the thought of it made me tingle, and I shook myself to my toes to keep from skipping around the room like a giddy pup. As it was, I couldn't keep from humming, _Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty I'm free at last . . . _

Gabe shot me an odd look and muttered, _Didn't know you kept up with civil rights history. _

I ignored him and began pushing my way through the crumbled rocks and debris of the demolished doorway. He hopped in my way, stopping me. _What do you think you're doing?_ he demanded. _You're going out there . . . like that?_

_Well, how else am I supposed to go?_ I shot back. _In a monkey suit?_

_Remember? The wolves . . . their disguises? _he prompted, trying to get those rusty gears in my head turning. One night of peaceful, unbroken rest must have really done a number on my brain, because I was so relaxed I couldn't for the life of me remember what he was talking about until five minutes later, when a light bulb suddenly went off and I said, _Ohhhhhh . . . the _wolves_ . . . Right. Now I remember._

_And . . . aren't you gonna try it out?_ he urged. _You don't want to get caught by the dog catchers, do you?_ he added, when I didn't answer. I was too busy staring out at the city to notice him.

_Ehh . . . I'll do it later, _I reassured him, forcing my way through the door and onto the walkway beyond. Looking both ways to make sure no humans were around, I wagged my tail, pleased, and began trotting off briskly. Gabe followed, sometimes flying, sometimes waiting for me a little ways ahead.

_Where exactly are we going?_ he asked me once, but I didn't answer him. To tell you the truth, I had no idea where I was headed, nor did I care. I was just experiencing the wonder of not being hooked up to a twenty-foot chain for the first time in years. Sure, that two-foot piece was still in place, as was my collar, but I hardly noticed those.

I wasn't looking for wolves, at least not right away. I wanted to see their disguise getup for myself, but at the moment I felt more like a stray and less like a wolf, especially with my collar and chain.

Would they take me for a dog? Maybe. The worst case scenario I could think of, short of death, was that they would laugh at me for trying to be like them and use their human trick thing. I had just barely got the hang of talking to humans, let alone passing for one.

I turned down a promising-looking alley and found myself in a street lined with humans, all either seated sullenly on boxes and crates under patched overhangs, or standing about idly gossiping. They looked as though they'd given up on life, and all hope of survival. They looked as though they were just waiting around for something to swoop down and swallow them whole, and end their existence.

With a shock, I realized that they looked how I felt just a couple of nights ago.

Resisting the urge to gulp, and stowing my nervousness in the back of my brain for later retrieval, I took a tentative step into the alley. Would these people mistake me for a wolf? Did I just look like a big dog to them? Ah, uncertainty, uncertainty . . .

_Just keep walking, and don't look at them,_ Gabe muttered from his perch on a rooftop, from which he was keeping an eye out for me. _Just try and look . . . natural. _

_Yeah,_ I snorted, as I padded down the cobbled street with my head lowered and ears laid back, trying to look as unobtrusive as possible. _Natural for me is snarling and throwing myself against my chain in a blind rage. I don't think I want to do that here._

_No, you don't,_ he agreed, and he must have spotted something, because in the next breath he suddenly said,_ Whoops! Look sharp, Ren, we've got two guys in coveralls coming for you!_

I chanced a glance over my shoulder and saw two men, one of them the guy in the red cap we had seen earlier, coming out of a doorway and point at me.

" That's the one!" he said to his companion in a rough voice. " The one the old man lost!"

_Huh? Old man?_ I wondered, but Gabe interrupted me by hollering down, _Don't just stand there! Run, you fool! _And so, I did what I did best: Run like mad.

Heavy footsteps pounded the concrete behind me as I dashed down the street, upsetting carts and boxes of fruit, skidding on the broken pavement and making a hard turn into another alley, where I continued my headlong flight. I couldn't see if Gabe was following me or not, but when I called out, _Hey Gabe! A little help here, buddy!_ upon hitting a dead end, I realized that I was on my own for the moment.

_Kee-ripes, _I thought, scanning around frantically for any avenue of escape. I looked up, but the sheer walls of the buildings on either side of me, and the wall before me, rose higher than I could possibly hope to jump in this lifetime. Well, that's what I thought at the time.

There had been only one entrance to this alley, and the two men were heading down it right now, so I couldn't double back. I was stuck.

I was steeling myself for a fight when I caught a whiff of that wolf scent, close and mingled with something else I couldn't quite fit. It wasn't as potent as the ones I had smelled last night, but it was unmistakably close . . . and . . . My eyes widened when I realized . . . _it was female._

The pounding footsteps were getting closer, and I was getting quite alarmed – it took quite a bit to scare me – when a door slammed open behind me, and instinctively I jumped to face it. The scent of female wolf hit me full in the face, and I backed up a little when a shadowy figure materialized from the building's shadowy interior, running at full speed right at me. But something was wrong here. The figure was that of a human, and yet my nose was telling me it was a wolf.

I didn't have time to puzzle over it before the human/wolf barreled right into me, with no time to stop, and we went tumbling over into a pile of cardboard boxes and rusty garbage cans. The noise was enough to wake the dead, and was about as effective as a neon sign and flashing lights to advertise my whereabouts to my two pursuers.

When the trash and other debris settled to the ground, I found myself flat on my back with a human female sitting on my stomach. The eerie thing was, I felt another canine form atop my own, not that of a human, but I couldn't see it. It was like touching what you saw as a smooth piece of wood and feeling instead feathers. Weird, I tell you.

Even weirder, as I stared up into the woman's face, I found it hard to focus on, like a blurry photograph. The harder I looked, the blurrier it became, until finally, squinting my eyes, I found myself staring into a pair of brilliant blue eyes, bluer than the woman's had been, with sleek black fur, two pointed ears, and a pink tongue protruding slightly from a fine pointed muzzle.

_Whoa!_ I thought, but forgetting to keep it to myself. The vision of the wolf lasted only a second before the image of the black-haired female snapped back into place. She smiled and stepped off my stomach, dusting herself off and studying me with an uncritical gaze.

I swallowed and slowly righted myself, feeling like a street mutt with my scruffy coat and steel collar. Here was a wolf all right: sleek and shiny, with a bushy tail anyone would be jealous of. Then there was me: dusty grayish-black in color, the color of junk and metal. My ears and tail unwittingly drooped.

" Let me guess," the female said knowingly. " They're after you, too."

_Uh, yeah,_ I answered lamely, looking back over my shoulder. _Here they come now._

The female wolf – with her human disguise in place – suddenly grabbed the chain hanging from my collar and yanked it tight. " Start struggling," she said in a low voice, tugging on the chain. I was too taken aback to fully register what she was saying to me, and I was a little distracted by the sudden pull of the collar against my throat.

" Struggle! C'mon, jump around, snarl, do whatever! Make it look like you're trying to get away from me!" she said, more insistently. The human visage dropped away for a second, and I saw the black wolf again, with my chain in her teeth, pulling at it. Then once more, the disguise veiled her form, and the woman now glared down at me. " Don't you get it? They'll take you away if you don't listen to me!"

The men were just around the corner; evidently they were planning their capture before they charged in. I looked from the woman to the corner, and back again, hesitating.

Then what happened next was completely unexpected. The black female dropped the chain, nipped my flank sharply, and when I yelped and bared my fangs, ready to snap back out of reflex, she changed back to a human and grabbed the chain, yelling, " Whoa, boy! Come on, be a good dog and heel!"

The two men, hearing the commotion, rounded the corner, clubs and nets in hand. I stopped for a second, thinking it was over and they were going to catch me – but I felt something nudging my back, and the black wolf's voice in my head, saying, _Keep it up, and I'll take care of the rest. Don't worry._

_A-all right,_ I answered, so that the men couldn't hear me. Then I snarled, lunged the length of the chain before being brought up short by the woman, and began barking as loud as I could at her while struggling to keep from being held in place.

" Miss!" one of the men exclaimed. " Watch out, that one's vicious!" They started forward to help, but the woman waved them back before grabbing the chain with both hands and saying, " No, it's all right. He's just a little excited, that's all. Just stay there and make sure he doesn't bolt out the alley." Then, to me, _Calm down, slowly. If you do it too quick they'll suspect something._

I stood unmoving, still growling and hackles still raised, as the woman began petting my head and talking in a soothing voice. " There, there, boy. It's all right, everything'll be okay, just you wait, all right? There, now . . . "

Out of the corner of my eye I was watching the two men. They seemed uncertain as to what to do. The woman continued to stroke my head, and I sat down slowly, letting the growl in my throat die away. As if guessing their thoughts, the woman laughed, her hand still on my head and holding my chain in her other, as she said, " Oh, don't worry about me. I can take care of him. He's all right now."

" Well," one said slowly, " We were told to be on the lookout for this dog. An old man lost him a while back, and he's been looking for it. We were going to take him in."

The chain tightened, and I sensed the other wolf's apprehension. " An old man?" she repeated. " He's . . . been looking for his dog?" The dog-catcher nodded. After a moment's silence the woman looked up and told the two men, " Don't worry, I'll take the dog in. I want to make sure he's all right first."

" If you think so, ma'am," the man in the red hat said, shrugging. " You know where the station is?" She nodded, and they left, after what seemed like an eternity.

_Phew . . . _I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding, and slumped down on the ground. _That was a little close. _I looked back at the black female, who had dropped her human disguise and was gazing at me with her head slightly cocked to one side. _Thanks for the save, _I said gratefully, standing and wagging my tail once. She simply said, _You're welcome, _before turning around and starting through the door she had burst through.

_Hey, wait a second!_ I called after her. She stopped, and looked back. I fought down a sense of embarrassment as I said haltingly, _Um . . . I . . . I don't even know your name. _

This caused her to smile. _My name is Blue,_ she said softly. _What about you?_

_I'm Renegade,_ I answered, feeling my tail just itching to wag furiously. I sat down on it instead and pricked my ears up in interest. _So . . . um . . . how long have you been here, Blue?_ I asked, just wanting to make conversation. Before she could answer, shouts at the end of the alleyway made us both turn around, and she ducked into the building.

_We'll talk later,_ she said. _Follow me._ I could barely see her black fur in the gloom of the building's interior, but I jumped to follow her, right before a pack of humans swarmed into the alley we had been in just moments before.

I followed the click of her claws against the concrete as she led me farther into the building, down winding hallways that echoed the sound of our footfalls, past old machinery that had broken down who knew how many decades before, past pipes that leaked steam and water, and catwalks and drainage lines and telephone wires . . .

I lost track of time as we made our way through the building. I couldn't see anything, could only hear the patter of our paws and smell that pungent wolf scent that wasn't quite wolf . . .

Finally we emerged onto a broad walkway high above the city. Blue promptly walked to the edge and began scanning the streets below us. Curious, I walked up until I was beside her, and joined her in looking.

_Enjoying the view?_ I asked, sitting down and watching a pair of young humans run away from an older human in a uniform. She shook her head.

_No, I'm looking for someone,_ she answered. _Maybe you've seen them? A group of wolves . . . or an old man in a trenchcoat . . . _She trailed away at the last description, and looked the other way. _But I'm not really looking for him. He's looking for me. _

_I know what you mean,_ I said, watching the gray sky through the broken dome above us. _I was always getting looked for . . . and caught. _She turned to look at me.

_I could tell you lived with humans by that collar,_ she said, nosing it. _I used to wear one, too . . . but it . . . broke. I'll bet Pops is out there, looking for me right now._

_Pops . . . _I frowned. _You mean you were the one the humans were looking for? You . . . you . . . passed yourself off as a dog? And Pops . . . was that your human? Sounds like an odd thing to call your master._

_He was more than that to me,_ she said, not looking at me. _He was like a father to me. He took me in . . . took care of me . . . and gave me the name Blue. I loved him like he was really my father, and I took to calling him Pops, even though he couldn't hear me._

_Wow, _I said in wonder. _I didn't know wolves let themselves be kept as pets, too. _At this, Blue laughed. I looked back at her, puzzled. _Um . . . Did I miss something?_

_No,_ she said, still chuckling. _It's just that I'm not even a wolf, although I might smell like one. I'm only half-wolf – _I felt my eyes get wide: Half-wolf? So _that _explained the wolf smell that wasn't fully wolf – _And I got separated from the pack I was traveling with. There was this one guy I liked in that group, and I was hoping I could see him again, but we keep getting split up. _

_Wow, _I said for the second time, and wishing desperately I could think of something more intelligent to say, _You mean they didn't mind you running with them? That's something . . . _Here, I laughed, from pure relief – _Because I'm a half-wolf too! _

Blue looked at me. I didn't notice we were sitting side by side until she bumped her nose against the underside of my chin. Startled, I looked down and met her gaze with my own.

_You've got nice eyes,_ she said after a long pause. _So . . . cold at first . . . but when you look at them for a while they warm up. _

_Hey, uh, Blue . . . _I really didn't want to interrupt her, but there was one pressing matter that came before all else, the reason I had come here . . . I stepped away and looked her in the eye. _Do you think you could teach me to use the human illusion you were using earlier?_ _I mean, I didn't know if I could do it if I wasn't a full-blooded wolf, but if you could do it, then hopefully so can I. _

She gazed at me for a moment, her tail slowly moving back and forth over the ground, not quite touching it.

_You think you can do it? _she asked. _Have you ever tried?_

_Um . . . no,_ I admitted truthfully. _But you can do it . . . _

She stood up, and walked around me. _It's not that hard,_ she said, sitting down on the other side of me and watching me intently. _But you have to make sure that you stay calm when you're first starting off, or else it'll dissolve. Believe me, you don't want that happening in a crowded street. _

_Okay . . . so stay calm._ I closed my eyes and tried to relax, but no matter how tight I shut them, I could still smell her to my right. I pushed that thought aside and focused on staying relaxed.

Blue continued: _Once you're relaxed, see yourself in a mirror or pool of water . . . Focus just on that, and then take everything that makes up what you are: your personality, your likes and dislikes . . . and put that into a human form. What would your personality look like as a human?_

I saw myself in a pool of water . . . well, my water bowl in the yard, actually. I looked the same as ever – unkempt gray-black fur, black nose, pointed ears, suspicious yellow eyes. I had seen that face a hundred times. Now . . . all I had to do was take up everything that made up me and put it into a human form? Easier said than done.

I started to form a list. What made up me? Let's see . . . distrust, suspicion, hatred for Ceede and Hann and those destructive teens that had nearly killed me . . . Well, I figured that was enough hate for now. I tried to focus on the positive side. I could be dry and sarcastic, rebellious . . . Wait, I had said the positive side. Maybe that _was_ the positive side. But I guessed I had enough to work with for now.

I looked down at my reflection in my mind's eye, seeing my face again. _See yourself as a human,_ she had said. So I tried to see myself as a human . . . But the only human face that kept popping up in my mind for some reason was Ceede's face. I pushed that aside and tried again.

_Distrust, suspicion, hate . . . sarcasm, rebellion,_ I repeated in my mind. _Who I am as a wolf . . . into what I could look like as a human. _

The reflection in the water changed as I watched, willing with all my strength to conjure up a human form. First I saw a slight shimmer, like a heat wave, pass over my reflection, and my face blurred in the water. Then my face disappeared, replaced by the face of an unfamiliar human who stared back at me with the exact same surprise and astonishment I was feeling.

_You did it!_ Blue exclaimed from my side. I opened my eyes, and the vision of the human's face in the water bowl disappeared. _Huh?_ I asked, turning to face her.

_You did it! You made it work! I saw your human form!_ she said, sounded elated. _You did it!_

_Thanks, _I said, looking down at myself but seeing my own paws and collar. _Wait . . . I thought you said I did it?_ I asked, looking back at her.

_You did do it,_ she reassured me. _And I saw it, but it was really my fault. I shouldn't have burst out like that. I broke your concentration. But – _she resumed smiling – _You did it, and now all you need is practice!_

_Okay then . . . Wow. That was easier than I thought it would be. _I turned and walked over to a broken window, inspecting my reflection, and remembering the face that had stared back at me from the depths of my water bowl.

It had been a face full of . . . what? Suspicion? Anger? Not so much that . . . as it was a face that needed something. Something that . . . I didn't know.

A/n: Gah. Fourth chapter, over and done. I don't know if the chase scene worked as well as it could've, but as I said earlier, I wanted to get it up before the homework hobgoblins had me shackled down. I also had trouble visualising what goes through a wolf's mind when they put up their human form . . . I wasn't quite sure how they do it, but I put a little bit of metaphysical mumbo-jumbo in there, just to make it sound cool. "The face in the water bowl" certainly sounds mystical, yeah?  
At any rate, they never actually tell you how they do it in the anime, you can only surmise that it's like a hologram and isn't solid, so if you brush by them you'll be touching a wolf. The only partial description you get is Toboe in the first(?) episode, when he's being chased by Leara, and he says to himself, "Stay calm, stay calm . . ."  
So, they have to be relatively relaxed to do it. I was going off very little information, so bear with me. I just guessed that they have to visualise to a certain extent what they want to look like as a human; what they look like as a wolf also plays some part in the whole determining thing . . . Gah, it's complicated, and yet so vague . . .  
Well, I thought I should explain my reasons for writing that particular segment the way it is . . . Not that I have any real obligation to; it just saves me the time answering your questions in later chapters. Well . . . actually, I quite enjoy your questions, so if you have any feel free to address them, along with any comments, criticisms, or whatever, you feel like.  
If you actually had the patience to read through that . . . little . . . explanatory note, then you have my deepest sympathy and admiration. Later to you all, my dear hobbitses, and until next time.


	5. Ready

Hi again. It's me. And here's the fifth chapter.

Sorry, no outrageous Author's Note to start off: That's what the next chapter's for, detailing the circumstances of my inactivity for the past few months. So, for now, enjoy.

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" You're doing pretty good," Blue consoled me, as we sat on a ledge overlooking the streets below. She had managed to nab us some food, but at first she was hesitant about stealing it, saying something about working for what we ate. I told her that the humans weren't worth the work we did for them, and she fell silent. I felt bad for saying that, but the next thing I knew she had disappeared, and come back just as quick with a whole roast chicken.

Seemed like she had come nuzzling up to the vendor, wagging her tail and whining softly, and the poor sap, taking pity on her, had tossed her a couple of bits of meat. Then that sneaky girl had the nerve to steal the whole chicken when his back was turned. I admired that in a woman.

So now, sitting with her legs dangling over the edge – human façade in place – Blue was giving me a few pointers about the art of illusion-making, in between tearing chunks of meat from her half of the chicken. I had consumed my half, practically inhaling it in my hunger, since I hadn't eaten since the day the junkyard got bombed.

I had initially been nervous about sitting out in the open like this, especially after the incident with the dog catchers, but Blue assured me that we would just look like a girl with her pet dog. _Big_ pet dog, I thought, cracking chicken bones in my teeth. I was about ready to give the human thing another go, with my hunger somewhat sated and my morale at the highest it'd been in a long time. I hadn't seen Gabe for some time, but I didn't worry. The bird could take care of himself, and cities were his stomping-ground.

" Ready for another shot?" Blue asked me, tossing the bones away and fixing me with her sapphire gaze. I could really get used to looking into those eyes.

_Yeah, why not?_ I answered, gnawing a bone before tossing it away and standing up. _I think I can hold it in place a little longer now._ Blue smiled, and stood as well.

" Well, in that case . . . let's go somewhere we can't be seen." With that, she started walking off, and I followed.

Walking a little behind her, I still marveled at the way the wolves' ingenious disguise functioned. I saw the blurry figure of the black-haired woman walking in juxtaposition with Blue herself walking, the human illusion situated about midway between Blue's head and tail. Blue turned, and the woman turned too, even cocking her head slightly like Blue did. It was very efficient.

Blue turned to glance at me, and I quickly looked away, not wanting her to think I was staring. She just laughed, and asked quietly, " What are you so scared of? Am I making you nervous?"

_No,_ I answered defensively, walking a little faster. _I was just . . . thinking, that's all._

" Uh-huh," she answered, and laughed again, almost giggling. I just lowered my head and stared at her human form's boots.

We stopped in a deserted alleyway between two buildings with broken windows. Both buildings were evidently deserted, which was a relief. Blue took a seat on an old dumpster to watch, her human form sitting with her legs and arms crossed, with an air of expectancy.

_Okay,_ I mentally reviewed all the steps to making a successful illusion, and closed my eyes. _Focus . . . and relax. _This time, I was able to visualize myself as a human much faster, and when I caught the sound of Blue muffling sounds of delight I opened my eyes, hoping to catch sight of my human form before it dropped.

" Here!" Blue quickly motioned me over to a window that was more or less intact. I trotted over and put my paws up on a box to see into the window.

There, in the dirt and grime of the window, was the face of a human I had seen once before, but only in my mind. I turned my head a little bit from side to side, trying to see it all, and he did likewise, a look of pleased surprise and disbelief on his face.

The human in the window had unkempt dark hair – dark brown, if I was any judge – and seemed to be wearing a dark green hooded jacket and black pants that looked like they'd been washed a hundred times over . . . the same gravelly color as my fur. I peered into the window, and almost gave myself a heart attack when the human frowned and leaned closer, his hazelnut eyes staring into mine.

" Careful," Blue warned, when I almost fell over backward. I recovered, and looked at her sheepishly. I could see myself in the window, rubbing the back of my head and smiling ruefully.

" Sorry," I said, hearing myself talk. " Guess I forgot." I turned back to the window and noticed that the steel collar and chain around my neck translated to . . . a steel collar in my human form. Well, that was just great. What kind of human walked around with a collar around his neck?

Blue must have guessed my thoughts, because she hopped down from the dumpster and walked over to me. Her wolf form disappeared entirely, and I saw only her human illusion standing beside me, reaching out a hand and turning my collar a bit from side to side to inspect it. I felt Blue's breath on my neck as she did so.

" We'll have to find a way to get this off," she said finally, stepping back and taking in my appearance. " Other than the collar – which you can't help – your disguise is perfect." She smiled. " It suits you perfectly."

" Thanks," I said, turning from the window to grin at her. " Although, I wouldn't have been able to do it without you . . . Thank you, Blue."

_Well, well . . . Look who's gone and got himself a human form,_ chuckled a familiar voice from above me. I looked up, as did Blue.

Gabe was sitting on a rusty street light, straightening his feathers and cocking his head down to peer at me. _When we got separated, I thought for sure you'd gone and slipped down a sewer or some other nasty place and got yourself in a world of trouble. Or worse, that the dog catchers had got you. Or worse yet, that the nobles' troops had gotten you. That would have been bad indeed._

I meant to ask him what the heck a noble was, when Blue asked me in an undertone, "Do you know this guy?"

Gabe's feathers fluffed out indignantly. _Know him? Of course he knows me! I'm the one who helped him escape! And now you're asking if he knows me . . . Blasphemy! Speaking of which . . . Ren, do you know _her

" Easy, Gabe," I reassured him. " This is Blue . . . she's the one who helped me figure out how to work this disguise."

Blue smiled at the raven, who only unfluffed his feathers long enough to swoop down and land in front of us. _Wolf or no wolf . . . _he grumbled. _I still claim credit for helping you this far._

" Credit acknowledged," I told him, and then to Blue, " Well . . . I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

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So there ye have it: Chapter Five, fresh from the grill! Well . . . not quite.

Sorry for the delay in chapters; and like I said, I'll explain with the next installment. Thanks for all of your patience and fandom!


	6. Unsteady

Hello again, everyone, it's me. I have decided – again – to climb out of the dark, Internet-less hole I have been living in for the past few months to actually finish this chapter and bring it to you in all of its just-completed glory.

Actually, I've just been really busy with school and whatnot. College isn't exactly something you can do half-heartedly, and I've been doing my valiant best to _do_ my best. So, I apologize for the time it's taken for me to go on with it, and for those of you who have actually bothered reading this and my other story . . . I thank you. So, without further ado, I bring you chapter six of _Running Renegade_. Feel the suspense. Live the danger. Enjoy the show. :)

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" Are you sure you're ready?" Blue asked me as we stood just around the corner of the bustling market alley, our human disguises in place. I nodded wordlessly, not trusting my voice. To tell you the truth, I wasn't ready; having just learned this whole disguise/technique thing – did it even have a proper name? – and on an almost-empty stomach at that. I fidgeted a little and Gabe, who was perched on the crumbling corner of the rooftop opposite us, caught the movement with his beady little bird eyes and said quickly, " If you're not feeling up to it, don't think you're being all macho by saying you are."

" It's not a matter of being macho," I said through gritted teeth, struggling to keep my temper in check. Ever since he'd caught up with me and Blue he'd been dropping comments like that with a poker face, feigning concern when I knew he was trying to humiliate me in front of the lady. He was doing it in good fun, of course, no malice intended, but it still irked me.

Finally he realized that I was glaring at him; I guess the combined efforts of both me and my human disguise shooting evil looks his way was too much for him to handle, so he just stretched his wings – the raven equivalent of a shrug – and took to the air, saying he'd be back later.

Blue watched him go with an amused smile on her face before turning to me and asking innocently, " Do you really think of yourself as macho?"

I fixed her with a bewildered stare and found to my dismay that I couldn't think of a more intelligent answer than, " Well, I am a guy, you know." A split second later I resisted the incredible urge to dig a hole and stick me head in it, while my human self smacked himself on the forehead multiple times. The things I said sometimes . . .

Blue just laughed. I knew I was blushing and tried to hide it, but this made her laugh even more. Then, without thinking (again), I started to walk out from the shadows of the alley and nearly bumped into the two dogcatchers from earlier. I started to run, but caught myself, remembering the disguise that shielded me from human eyes.

One of them favored me with a sour glance and I felt myself cringe under the scrutiny as he caught my eye and held it. Had the disguise held? Did it drop at the last second? Did they see past the false front of humanity? Didn't they realize they were staring into the face of a wolf? Well . . . half wolf, but still - ! What kind of guy walks around with a steel collar around his neck?

A million uncertainties flooded my thoughts in the brief moment we locked gazes.

After what seemed an unending period of time he simply grunted, " Watch it, punk," probably now in a worse mood than before, and resumed clumping by.

I let out a held breath and let my head drop. I had forgotten everything for a moment as my instincts had kicked in. Hann and Ceede were dead; they weren't around to chase me to the ends of the earth anymore, they couldn't track me down wherever I chose to hide . . . and to top it all off I had a new weapon in my arsenal: the façade of a human. I had it made.

I stuck my "hands" in my pockets and let a relieved but triumphant smile play across my face. Then I felt it fade when I realized something that had been nagging me for ages.

How had Ceede been able to find me wherever I managed to hide? And how could he have done it so fast? As far as I knew, he had only been concerned with keeping that junk pile of his safe from . . . junk pirates, I supposed, but why had he been so intent on keeping me around?

I hadn't realized that it hadn't even crossed my mind once I had escaped. Now it dawned on me that other people – the dogcatchers, for instance – might be able to find me just as fast. That sent a chill down my spine.

" What's wrong?" Blue asked, coming up beside me and looking at the departing backs of the two dogcatchers. I couldn't answer her . . . my mind was whirling at a dizzying rate, and I began backing up without realizing it, back toward the darkness and relative safety of the alley. My disguise dropped, and I slumped down on the ground, feeling suddenly cold and sick to my stomach.

Just the thought of getting caught again . . . I knew Ceede was dead, but I could still picture the junkyard in my mind. I could still hear his rough shout, feel the occasional boot to the ribs. My collar felt like a steel yoke around my neck.

I tried to shut out the memories, but they all came back to me in a flood. The chain dangling from my collar didn't help much, either.

Blue, puzzled and concerned, stood in the entrance to the alley, looking at me in confusion.

" What happened?" she asked, cocking her head. " Are you all right?"

I wasn't all right. I didn't feel all right. I felt like running . . . but to where? I'd spent a good deal of my life running and getting caught. Now that I was free, it seemed as though running would still be a part of my life, whether I wanted it to be or not. I was still running . . . from the dogcatchers . . . from a past I didn't want to remember . . . And – I realized as I let my human illusion re-form - I was on the run from humans in general, or I wouldn't have to use this disguise thing.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't notice Blue approach and nudge me gently with her nose.

_Hey_, she said again. _Are you all right?_

I was about to respond with something really short-tempered (as I wasn't in the best of moods) but there was so much concern in her deep sapphire eyes that the words caught themselves mid-throat and refused to go any further. I stumbled a moment, trying to find something else to say in lieu of the uncooperative sentence.

" I'm fine," I said at last, trying to smile reassuredly. " I'll be okay, don't worry. I . . . was just a little startled, that's all."

As I got to my feet the end of the chain got caught under one of my paws and I tripped on it, knocking Blue off balance and sending me skidding face first onto the dank pavement.

" Oww . . ." I groaned, slowly getting back to my feet and shaking my head to clear the dancing stars from my vision. I gingerly disentangled my paw from the chain and wished for a brief moment that I had opposable thumbs. The chain swung and rattled against my leg, as though it were reminding me to keep alert, or it would trip me again.

" Are you all right?" Blue asked from farther back in the alley. Evidently she was keeping her distance in case I went flying again. " I'd forgotten that you still have a chain and collar."

" Yeah, me too," I coughed, rattling the chain. I looked down at it in disgust. " If I had hands, I'd have this thing off in a heartbeat."

Blue looked thoughtful for a second. I was in the middle of wondering why when she said shortly, " Come on. Follow me." Without another word she turned and began trotting off down one of the crowded alleys.

I started after her, so intent on keeping her in sight that I almost let my human illusion fade. I caught a glimpse of someone rub his eyes and peer harder at me, whereupon I focused on keeping it intact and quickened my pace until I was right at Blue's side.

She glanced at me and said quietly, " Are you nervous?"

I let a one-sided smile tug at the corner of my mouth. " Not really. My stomach feels like it's twisted itself in knots and then sprouted a flock of really energetic butterflies . . . But other than that, I'm fine."

She laughed.

We went on for some time that way, side by side, ducking down side alleys and climbing crumbling staircases, until we reached a higher level of the city. Blue seemed to know where she was going and kept a steady pace, occasionally humming to herself or smiling at the dirt-smudged children who stared wide-eyed at us.

" Can they _see _us?" I asked her quietly, watching them carefully. One little boy stretched on his tiptoes to try and touch my collar. It was kind of amusing; his head came to my (wolf) shoulder, but as a human he barely reached my waist. Height or no height, however, I was still no touchie.

I pulled back slightly, and the boy looked as though he would start crying.

" I don't know," Blue answered back. We had run into a bit of traffic and couldn't move faster than a slow walk. Thankfully, we weren't jammed together so no one could bump into us and tell who we really were. " Try not to draw attention to yourself, though." Meanwhile, the boy was gazing at me through wide eyes ready to spill over with tears.

" Mommy . . . do you see it?" he said, tugging on his mother's coat. " Do you see him?"

" Yes, dear," the woman replied in a tired voice, not even looking. She pulled the boy along with one hand, her other arm full of bundles. The boy walked beside us for a few steps, then, quicker than I could react, reached out his little hand and clamped his hand around the bit of chain dangling from my collar, then tugged on it.

" Wha - !" Instinctively, I jerked back from the contact as though I'd been shocked with a cattle prod. The boy was lifted off his feet and flew right into me, arms outstretched to catch himself –

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The boy's mother turned just as her son let out a yelp. A muffled thump announced the fact that someone had just fallen over.

" Peter!" she exclaimed in dismay at the sight of the boy sprawled across the lap of a man with dark hair. The man looked guilty, like he'd been caught doing something wrong. " Peter, what do you think you're doing?"

Peter's hands – which had stopped his fall and kept him from falling completely on the man – were planted firmly on either side of the man's head, in a tight grip on his ears.

The stranger flinched and shifted uneasily as the boy stared him in the face, mouth agape in awe.

" You . . . you're not . . . " Peter looked at his hands, then at the man's face again, as though he couldn't register what he was seeing to what he was touching.

The dark-haired man looked even more uncomfortable, and a thick steel collar and chain around his neck clinked when he shifted again.

The woman stood there staring in shock at her son's behavior.

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The moment the kid flew into me, I knew it was over. I tried to twist away at the last moment but my reflexes were too slow. He landed on me with a _foomph _that sounded a lot worse than it was; thankfully, he was lighter than Blue.

But the next thing I knew there was a pair of hands gripping my ears, which was extremely uncomfortable. I sucked in a sharp breath to keep from obeying my instincts and lashing out with my fangs – this was a kid, after all – and hoped to heaven that I had the presence of mind to keep my illusion in place. So far, no one had panicked yet.

The kid was another story. I locked eyes with him and thought, _Uh-oh. _

While the illusion was only so much to keep the casual observer from seeing the _real _us . . . it couldn't stand up to touch. And right now he knew that what he was seeing and what his sense of touch was telling him were two completely different things. He looked truly distressed at the realization that it was fur he was feeling in those little grubby hands of his.

" You . . . you're not . . . " he whispered.

I cringed inwardly. If he could keep from making a scene, then me and Blue would be safe. Well . . . she would be safe; her disguise hadn't been compromised, and she was staring at me with wide eyes, knowing full well what was at stake.

The boy's eyes widened, and I knew he could see me. Yeah . . . _me_, the four-legged, collared, with a wagging tail _me_. He could see past the illusionary human.

I knew the next thing to follow that little revelation would be a full-out disaster, and would cause a mess of a scene.

So, I took a deep breath . . . and readied myself for what I knew had to be done . . .

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The woman took a step forward, ready to intervene, when Peter let go of the man's ears and struggled to his feet. The stranger stood as well, but with a fluidity that was almost unnatural. In fact, the longer she looked at him the more out of focus he became –

The man dusted himself off and smiled sheepishly down at the boy, who was looking up at him with a mingled expression of fright and curiosity.

" Sorry about that," the collared man said, turning to Peter's mother and rubbing the back of his head nervously. " I . . . get really jumpy in crowds. Can't stand them." Then, to Peter, " You're not hurt, are you?"

Peter shook his head slowly, dumbfounded.

The man adjusted the collar around his neck and shook his head and shoulders, almost like a dog would. Then, he clapped the boy on the shoulder.

" Do me a favor and don't go yanking anyone else's chain, all right?" he grinned. "Not good manners."

Peter stared at the man, then his mouth slowly went from the O-ring of awe to a timid, tentative smile. The man returned it with a one-sided smile and a nod, before he and a young woman in black disappeared into the crowd.

His mother came to stand by him and fuss over his rumpled jacket. " Did you know that man, Peter?"

" No . . . " he replied, sounding distracted and watching the direction they had gone. "No, I don't."

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When we were out of sight of the alley Blue turned down a deserted street and turned to me with a broad smile.

My heart was hammering in my chest.

" That," she said, her voice rich with satisfaction, " was _brilliant_."

I hardly heard her; I was more concerned with getting my breath back. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack, I was so shaky.

" I thought you were all nervous about going out in crowds and trying to keep your human disguise in place," she continued, leaning against the wall while I was content with sagging against it like a sack of flour. " And then you go and pull off a stunt like that, and . . . " She shook her head again. " That was really something. I don't think Hige could've done it better."

" H – Hige?" I repeated, glancing up at her. She paused as though she'd just realized she'd said something she shouldn't have, and looked away.

" Nothing." She looked downcast for a minute. In that time my heart stopped feeling like it would pound a hole through my chest and I could breathe better.

But I was feeling better, much better, despite my racing heart. I had gone through a crowd of people, had a little kid grab my ears and realize what I was, and I was still here! If wolves could jig . . . I would have jigged.

That was a shot in the, uh . . . arm that I needed. My self-confidence was so much the better for it. I felt like I could keep my human façade in place for however long I needed.

Blue recovered her composure by the time I triumphantly picked myself up and shook the dirt out of my fur – and jacket and pants – and asked, " So, where to now?"

" Well, on to take care of your collar, I guess." She started out of the alley, turned, and smiled at me. I paused, and smiled just because she was.

" What?"

She continued to smile and waited until I was beside her. Together we made our way out of the alley and onto another street. As we walked along with our hands in our "pockets," Blue suddenly turned to me and said, " I know you're going to hate me for this, especially after what happened, but . . . "

" What?" I asked, stopping to look at her.

" Well . . . I'm going to need you to drop your disguise and go about as a wolf for a while."

I had just started to go on, but that stopped me cold.

" Wha . . . _what_?"

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	7. Go

Hello again and welcome to the show. My apologies for not updating this sooner; my poor excuse remains the same – going to college takes up the majority of my time, and what with all the assignments and projects I'm getting, I simply don't have the time to write these chapters as often as I'd like to. At any rate, here is chapter 7 of _Running Renegade_, fresh off the press. Take a whiff, if you'd like, and enjoy the show.

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I glanced at the sign over the door. The words meant nothing to me; I couldn't read them. But I could see plainly enough from the hammer and anvil that it was a blacksmith's shop. So that was her plan, was it? Why bother trying to break your teeth on a steel collar when a human could do it for you? I was really starting to like this girl.

" Come _on_, Ren," Blue insisted, tugging at the chain. I could see her beneath her human form, and could see that she was anxious to get inside, where no one could see us. I followed her (rather reluctantly) into the shop.

My initial reaction was one of mixed nostalgia and distaste. The smell of metal and copper, of steel and pipes, rushed over me, and I fought the impulse to growl. As it was, my hackles stood on end all over my body, and I tensed up involuntarily. Blue shot me a warning glance and whispered, " You want this collar off, don't you?"

_Of course_, I answered, still glancing warily about. I had to do something to keep my mind off the unsettling similarities between this place and . . . that other place.

So I barked.

It was a loud one too, one that Ceede would've been proud of. It would've put the fear of God in any intruder unfortunate enough to hear it. But all it did in this crowded little shop was elicit an oath from the wild-haired old man who'd been working diligently at a worktable in the corner. He leaped up, banging his head on some overhead pipes and causing them to fall to the floor, where they made a tremendous racket. Blue and I cringed as the ringing and rattling assaulted our sensitive ears. I cringed even more when Blue fixed her sapphire gaze on me, that single look speaking volumes.

_I'm . . . sorry_, I apologized sheepishly. _I couldn't help - _

_Yes, you could have_, she said. _Please try to get a hold of yourself._

I sat down sullenly and grmph'ed with discontent. This place was making me jumpy. The pipes hanging from the ceiling, the tools arranged on the walls, the cluttered atmosphere in general . . . It was so much like the junkyard. Reveling in my newfound freedom, I'd almost forgotten what it had been like. The collar around my neck suddenly seemed to weigh heavier on me.

The old man had recovered, and now waded over to us, ankle-deep, through the tangle of pipes, where he fixed us with a stern, appraising stare. Without my disguise in place, I felt relatively at ease, but I worried for Blue. However, she didn't look too ruffled by the scrutiny.

The old man looked us up and down for a few moments, his hard blue eyes boring into us, me in particular. Finally, he straightened up, adjusted his bent glasses, and asked, " So what'd you want, or didja just come here to half-scare me to death?" He didn't look half-scared to death to me, but I was no judge.

Blue answered, " I was wondering if you could get this collar off my dog." The old man gave me another thorough looking-over before stooping and examining my collar with one finger thoughtfully tapping his chin. He took hold of the collar, turned it from side to side, running his fingers over where it was roughly welded to the chain . . .

" Yeah, I can do it," came the curt reply. Blue gave the chain to the man, who led me to a metal table in the rear of the shop half-hidden under a jumble of tools and other mechanical knick-knacks. He swept the tools off the surface, patted it and said, " Up here, boy," before letting go of the chain. I jumped to the top and sat down, still feeling ill at ease.

Blue appeared and settled against a stack of boxes, watching. I felt a little better and relaxed a bit, my gaze following the old man as he rummaged about in his tools and gadgets for some piece of hardware or other. Now that I was over my initial impression, the shop really wasn't at all like the junkyard. I recognized some of the tools, but here they were well-kept and clean, not rusty and strewn about in heaps. The junkyard was a place of rust and corrosion; this was a place of shine and luster. It was a nice little shop.

" There you are!" the old man suddenly exclaimed, and pounced on a box in the far corner. He pulled out the object he'd been searching for and turned toward me with the most evil, sharp-edged pair of bolt cutters I'd ever seen.

" Holy - !" I started and scrambled off the table, knocking over several cases of lugnuts and vise clamps. I landed on the floor, snarling, with a thud and the bang-boom of various falling metal objects.

All I could see was a picture of an incensed Ceede lobbing a pair of bolt cutters at me as hard as he could, hitting me right across the muzzle and leaving a gash that didn't heal for three long, painful weeks. The fact that this man was evidently not at all like Ceede didn't cross my mind. I was simply spooked, and I was spooked badly.

Blue lunged at me right as I was about to lunge at the man, her jaws locking around the thick collar. She wasn't as big as I was in terms of size and weight, but she sure was strong. All the man could see as he stood, stunned, was a girl in her twenties wrestling a big scruffy dog nearly as big as she.

" It's all right!" she called, to keep him from coming closer. I was almost in a frenzied panic, snarling and snapping my jaws, my heart pounding. I could hardly hear what she was saying. " He's just a little nervous, that's all!" To me, she whispered urgently, Renegade . . . Ren! Please, he's not going to hurt you. Calm down . . . You're going to be fine, you hear me? Are you listening to me, Ren?

Finally her words broke through the fog of panic that clouded my judgment, and I calmed down in stages. I stopped struggling and lay still, panting. My throat let out a low whine of its own accord as my ears lay flat against my head.

The frizzy-haired old man looked sympathetic as he came and knelt by us. I was surprised that he hadn't kicked us out of his shop already for causing him so much trouble. So far I'd caused him to hit his head on some pipes, knocked over his tools, and had been a hair away from attacking him.

I was even more surprised when he reached out his hand, completely unafraid, and scratched behind my ears. It was a strange, not unpleasant sensation that made my tail move slightly from side to side. I stopped the motion, however, and it stopped trying to wag. I may have been part dog, but I still had some measure of dignity. As he continued scratching my ears and back, I noticed rather guiltily that he had a rising bump on his head.

" He your dog?" he asked Blue.

" No," she said, releasing her hold on my collar and nuzzling my shoulder comfortingly, a move that translated to her stroking my fur in the old man's eyes. " We were just thrown together by chance, I guess."

" Poor boy," the man murmured, his fingers encountering some of my scars from the yard, " Seems like you've had a rough time of it, huh?"

We sat in silence for a moment, and I had plenty of time to feel like a fool for reacting so blindly. I determined to myself not to screw up anymore.

The old man stood up with a grunt, and beckoned to the table again. " All right, let's try this again, you jumpy mutt," he said, sounding anything but angry. He sounded . . . rather amused. Meekly, I leapt to the top of the table again and sat down. Just then, a lock rattled somewhere to my right, and a door slid open, letting in a shaft of pale sunlight.

The boy I'd bumped into in the street, the one that had grabbed my collar, scurried in.

" What was all that noise?" he asked, looking around for the source of it, before directing his attention at the old man, who made a show of looking stern. " Are you all right, Grandpa?"

" Of course I'm all right, boy!" the man barked. " Go tell your mother I'll be up for lunch in just a moment; I've got a customer here right now. Go on, Peter, shoo." The boy scurried to obey. I realized I'd been holding my breath. I released it with a sigh. The old man, mistaking it for apprehension, ruffled my ears again and reassured me, " Ah, don't you worry, we'll have this off you before you can wag your tail twice." He coaxed me to lie down flat on the table so he could secure the collar with a vise.

I closed my eyes when the man brought out the cutters again, telling myself over and over again in my mind that I wouldn't make a scene. I could smell Blue close by, and that gave me a small measure of comfort. That, and the thought of having the seven-pound chunk of steel removed from around my neck, helped me endure the seemingly endless procedure of actually getting it taken off. For a good ten minutes the old man carefully and patiently whittled away at the collar. Why he didn't just snap it in half with the cutters, I'll never know. I suppose he didn't want to frighten me again. Whatever the case, just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, I heard a final, resounding "chink," and the weight around my neck fell away. Painlessly.

" _There_," the old man said, sounding satisfied. I half-sat up and looked at him, suddenly feeling . . . light. The pressure on my neck and shoulders was gone. I felt like I could float right up to the ceiling, the difference was that great. The man studied his handiwork, a steel collar broken in half with a bit of chain attached, and smiled at my reaction.

" Like it?" he asked, evidently not expecting an answer. He didn't get one. I shook myself vigorously for a moment or two, to get rid of the last trace memories of being chained and collared. While I was engaged thus, Blue thanked the old man for his help. I briefly wondered how she would wangle her way out of paying for this, before she said outright, " I'm sorry, sir, but we don't have any money to pay you with. Is there anything we can do for you in return?"

I was aghast. The old man, who a moment before had been on his way to the cash register to tally up the cost, simply turned around slowly and looked at us, completely unfazed by this last little bit of news.

I, on the other hand, was completely shocked that she would be so honest with this man, this human. Of course we didn't have money; where the hell would we carry it?

The thought that this old man would turn us in to the police, thinking we were criminals, had just crossed my mind. If I'd been paying closer attention, though, I would've seen that he was just waiting for a more thorough explanation before launching off at us. When no further explanation came, he took a breath and let out a thoughtful, "Hmm . . ." He rubbed his chin, leaving a smudge of oil and grease and making it look as though he'd grown a patchy goatee. " I just wish you'd told me beforehand, young lady."

That was it. He'd call the cops, and we'd have to fight fang and nail to get free. And after how nicely he'd treated us, I didn't exactly relish the though of biting this guy.

_Why can't we just make a run for it?_ I asked Blue in an undertone, hoping the old man wouldn't hear.

He heard.

Blue hung her head.

I bit my tongue, but it was too late.

The old man looked around briefly, bewildered, at the cluttered and metal-strewn workshop, before turning to Blue and asking her, " Did you hear - ? I could've sworn I heard a man's voice just now."

I cringed, fully expecting Blue to sigh in frustration or throw up her hands and give up on me. Or better yet, keep silent and shake her head in perplexity at the old man.

Instead, she smiled at me, " I think we can trust this guy," and let her disguise fade until all that could be seen where her human form once stood was a sleek black dog with striking blue eyes, tail wagging slightly.

The old man stared. Hell, _I_ stared. There went our "girl with dog" cover-up.

The man sat down heavily on a crate, clasping his hands. " Wow," he said, almost reverently. " Wow . . . wow. So all the stories were true."

_More or less_, Blue answered, and re-formed her disguise. " You knew, didn't you?"

The man laughed, and shook his head, amazed. " When this big fellow walked in, I knew right away he couldn't be a dog. And for you to keep a creature that size under control, I knew you couldn't possibly be human."

" You're pretty sharp," Blue said, impressed.

" Oh, I used to be a detective, but that was a long, long time ago," he said, rubbing his stubbly chin again. Now the patchy grease goatee was a full beard. " But boy . . . wolves in my workshop. I never woulda guessed."

" We're only half-wolves," Blue corrected him.

"Ah."

Despite how well he seemed to take strange news, I was still worried. _You're . . . not going to turn us in, are you? _I asked, laying my ears back.

" Why would I do that?"

_Because . . . we're wolves,_ I answered, then corrected myself, _At least partly. _

" Well, you haven't done anything to harm me yet, so I don't see any reason to hand you over to any authorities," the man said. " Plus, I'm really rather honored to meet you two, if you could believe that."

I was curious to know why this man was so at ease with the knowledge of who we were.

" Well, the boy came back the other day claiming he'd run into a half-dog, half-human guy in the streets," the old man explained.

_That was me_, I chimed in guiltily.

" I had the hardest time trying to quiet the kid down. He just loves those kinds of stories, see, and to have anything remarkable happen to him just stirs him up like crazy. He's into all those animal stories, and always asks me to tell him about how life was when I was his age. Now, I've heard the stories, and I've seen pictures and other things. Seeing the real thing is like the next step. At my age, nothing really surprises me anymore."

He fell silent long enough for us to hear the wail of a distant siren.

Blue and I looked at the door. The old man regarded us shrewdly.

" You've gotten into a bit of trouble, haven't you?"

Blue stood up and beckoned for me to cloak myself. I did so, while the man watched with barely-concealed awe.

" Amazing," I heard him mumble.

" We are in a little trouble," I explained. " The dog-catchers are combing the city for me, and we just came here to get my collar removed. The longer we stay here, the more they'll look for us, probably."

" We need to leave the city," Blue announced, surprising me for the thirtieth time that day.

" We do?" I asked, looking at her.

" Yes. We can't stay here forever, hiding from the police and the dog-catchers and whoever else cares to look for us."

The old man nodded. " And I suppose you're off to find a place you can live free, right?"

Blue looked at him in wonder. " How did you know?"

The old man wiped his chin with a cloth, trying to get the grease off. " Well, let's just say I've heard the stories of the so-called Paradise, and how the world is coming to an end . . ." He threw the rag away and stood up as well, suddenly very serious. " I don't believe it's true, and I don't believe it's false. The story exists, and that's enough for me. If you try and find it, I wish you the best of luck. Your Paradise may be the only thing you wolves have in this world besides each other. You have nothing to lose and nothing to gain by staying here."

He poked around in a bin and came up with a dusty, tattered scroll that, once unrolled, proved to be a map.

" Now, I don't know if you can read this – "

" I can," Blue and I answered in unison.

" – But you see here? West of this city is a mountain range, and beyond that, a vast plain of snow. I don't know who all is after you, or how long you're used to traveling, but I would encourage you to keep your heads down. This plain is the stomping grounds of the nobles, and they're forever flying over it, patrolling it and looking for heaven knows what."

Blue whispered something I couldn't understand.

" We'll keep that in mind," I said. The old man rolled the map up and tossed it away.

" Forgive me if I sound a little awkward," he said. " But I'm still somewhat in shock, and once you leave I'll probably be pinching myself just to see if I wasn't dreaming this whole time. You two just wait here a moment, and I'll be back down once I get the truck started up."

" Truck?" I repeated.

" Yeah, you know . . . Vehicle, four wheels, steering wheel – "

" I know what a truck is," I said, a little irritated. There had been nothing short of fifty of them in the junkyard. " I was simply wondering why you'd be getting your truck ready. Why . . . why would you want to help us?"

" Why would I get it ready?" he asked, looking out of a grimy window at the cold street. " Why would I help you? Perhaps because . . . I saw a chance to help someone in need, something beyond just doing enough to get by for myself. In times like these, it's hard enough to take care of yourself, let alone someone else. But if all we do is look out for ourselves, we're no better than the lowest of animals. I hope that by doing this I can add a little more dignity to my existence than just eking out a living in this city."

Then the door closed behind him. No sooner had the door closed than another one opened and the kid, Peter, peeked in.

" You guys aren't human, are you?" he asked, not in an unfriendly way, but simple and direct. It was almost as though he were asking if we had the time of day. " You're wolves, right?"

" Yes, we are," Blue answered. " You aren't going to tell on us, are you?"

Peter shook his head. " Grandpa already knows and Mama doesn't care, so your secret's safe with us. Are you leaving already?"

" We have to leave," I told him. " The dog-catchers are after us. If we stay here, they'll find us sooner or later. Are you sure you can keep a secret?"

Peter nodded his head so eagerly that his hair bounced up and down like a horse's mane.

" _Boy!_"

We jumped. Peter's grandpa stood there silhouetted in the other doorway, looking stern. Peter froze and didn't move.

" You don't breathe a word about them to anyone, understand?" the old man growled. Peter nodded his head vigorously again. " Good. Come on, you two. We'll move now, when there's less people in the streets."

We followed him out the door. As I rounded the doorway, Peter caught up to me and said shyly, " I'm sorry about pulling your collar earlier. But . . . you don't have it on anymore, do you?"

" No, your grandfather was nice enough to take it off for me," I said. I joined Blue in the cab of the truck as the engine puttered to life. The old man backed the truck out of the driveway slowly, and Peter hung out of the doorway, waving.

We drove off, and Peter and the shop disappeared behind a corner. It took about fifteen minutes to reach the city walls, winding down narrow streets and passing more of the crumbling, decaying shops and buildings.

" Here we are," the man said, pulling to a stop under an awning. The street ended just ahead of us – the edge of the city. " There should be a way up through one of these buildings, and you can get out once you reach the top. I didn't want to take you through the main gate . . . Might be some trouble if you get caught there."

" Thanks a lot," I said, deeply gratified. " You've done so much for us already; if we can do anything in return, please let us know."

Blue nodded in agreement.

The old man laughed. " Meeting you is all the payment I need. Now I've seen everything, you know? But if there's one thing you can do for me, it's to stay alive and keep each other safe. Who knows? Maybe one day wolves will run free like they once did. But I've talked too much. Go on, before we get company."

We got out and watched the old man turn the car around. When he got to the end of the street he waved through the window. We waved back, then jumped to the top of the awning before leaping from building to building, straight up, until we reached the roof. From there it was an easy jump to the outer wall, where the wind gusted around us and blew flurries of snow into our eyes.

Blue jumped down to the next section of wall on the outside. I was about to follow her when I caught the sound of flapping wings and a voice calling, " Hey, wait up!"

" Gabe!" I exclaimed, turning. He nearly flew right into my face, but braked just in time and instead landed on the wall next to me.

" And where do you think you're going?" he demanded. " Without telling me where you're off to? I can't believe this. The ingratitude of some people!"

" We're headed for the mountains," I told him. " We can't stay here; there's too many people after us."

" Oy," he said, shaking his head. " I leave you two alone for a day and look what happens. You get in trouble with the law, and end up fugitives."

" Ren!" Blue called from below.

" Just a second!" I called back, then told Gabe, " Look, we're going to head toward the mountains west of here. Chances are we might be there for a while, depending on how well we can find food, but we might find our way to another city."

" If you do," Gabe said, opening his wings, " Then make sure you tell a crow or two; the news'll make it to me somehow. Anyway, best of luck, Ren, and don't get yourself killed!"

That was as good a send-off as I could hope for. " I won't," I said, and turned and leaped down to join Blue.

We hopped from bastion of wall to bastion of wall until we made it to the ground, where we let our disguises unravel. We ran side by side through the billowing snow, leaving a trail of footprints that were quickly erased by the gusting wind.

The dome and its inhabitants faded from sight as night fell.

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Gah . . . at last they left the city. Sorry about how long this chapter was . . . Once I got started, it took on a life of its own. There were some characters I needed to flesh out here, so if anything, that's what this chapter serves to do. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed it, and I shall see you next chapter!


	8. Morning

**A/N:** Thank you to all who have read and reviewed thus far! It means a lot to me. And before the regular readers begin throwing stones and rocks of various hurt-inducing sizes, just let me say that I have been extremely busy with school lately. I have a year and change left before I graduate, so I'm workin' me little tail off to make sure I can pay off that sizable tuition I'll be left with.

If you want to see what I've been up to, check out my deviantArt account (link available in my profile.)

This chapter is short, courtesy of a busy schedule. If you ask me, I think it's a little fluffy.

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I woke up early the next morning with a curious sense of being strangely comfortable, and feeling warmer than I had in a long time. The furry, canine body beside me had something to do with that, I imagined, but whatever the case, it felt wonderful.

When I shifted my paws under my chin to make myself more comfortable, Blue yawned and, without waking up, snuggled closer to my side to take advantage of the most body heat she could. I chanced a peek over at her and suppressed a grin. Her bushy tail was swept up over her nose, making her look more like a black-furred ball than a wolf. A black-furred ball that was sleeping peacefully.

I settled back down and sleepily contemplated the entrance to the old cave we had found. Snow was blowing past in eddies, but for the most part the wind didn't blow into the cave, so we were comfortable enough. And like I mentioned before, I was enjoying the sensation of being next to another of my kind. A life in the junkyard had left me out in the cold more often than not, and I had spent more nights than I cared to count shivering under that rusted fender.

Blue stirred beside me and slowly uncurled, yawning again.

_Good morning_, I greeted her, turning onto my side so I could watch her stand and stretch out. She took her time to stretch each limb deliberately, spreading her toes and shaking vigorously to banish any stiffness. When she was done she lay back down beside me and butted her head up under my chin.

_You're very warm_, she said, and I could tell she was smiling. _It feels good to be able to have someone to sleep beside_.

_I know what you mean_. I returned her gentle head-bump. _In the junkyard, there was no one else but me, and it was almost always freezing. I would wake up a lot of times with my coat full of ice, and then it would take forever to get it off, but I'd be freezing in the meantime. There were days that they forgot to feed me . . . But Ceede always remembered when he had a club or shovel handy when he thought I needed reminding who the boss was_.

I had the slightest notion that I was starting to babble, but Blue just lay there and watched me intently. _Sometimes, when I was lying there at night, too stiff or hungry to move – sometimes I dozed off and dreamed that I was far away from the yard, someplace that was warm and sweet, and had these beautiful trees . . . Well, it's hard to describe it. But it felt like a gentle place, like you could just lie down in the grass and not be afraid of someone driving over you or anything like that_.

Aside from realizing that I had just blatantly overused the word 'like,' I found Blue's head resting on my shoulder, gazing at me as though she was drinking in every word I was saying.

_You're lucky_, she said finally, and I was surprised to hear the slight wistfulness in her tone. _I've never had a clear vision in my head of what Paradise is like, even though I keep hearing about it_.

_Well, I wouldn't call it Paradise, but . ._ I forgot what I was saying as Blue suddenly poked her nose into my fur and sniffed intently. When she had explored the fur of my side with her muzzle and taken several nosefuls – I was meanwhile unsure if that meant I was supposed to do the same for her – she spoke up again.

_You have a lot of scars_, she said, her voice sounding sad. _I didn't know there were that many_.

_You found that out by sniffing?_ I asked incredulously, briefly wondering how much about her I could find out by smelling her, aside from things that were obvious to a normal canine nose.

_No_, she replied, laughing a little. _I just wanted to do that. But – _she stopped laughing_ - I could feel them, under your fur. I'm sorry_.

_Don't be_, I reassured her. _It's not your fault, and they don't hurt anymore, so it's fine_.

She didn't say anything again after that for some time, merely kept her head close beside mine, occasionally heaving a sigh or rubbing her nose with a paw.

The silence was relaxing – therapeutic, even.

And then my stomach growled. Loud enough for Blue to hear.

_Ah, yes_, she said lightly, watching with amusement as I turned away, groaning in embarrassment, and hastily curled into a ball to try and suppress any further outcries from my disgruntled midsection. _I think it's time we found ourselves some breakfast_.

I peeked over at her from behind my tail, now curled over my nose. She stood to her feet and gave my side a playful nip. _Well, c'mon. The deer aren't going to wander in here of their own accord_.

I followed her out of the cave, ears and tail dragging. How utterly humiliating.

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**A/N:** Gurgh. This is so not the best chapter I've posted. Anyway, more fun on the way!

**Note: When they speak in italics, it means they're in their wolf form.**

Of course, that all depends on my school schedule, work schedule, eating schedule, blah blah blah . . .


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